Walking Tour... A Pilgrimage Through Wessex

Coinciding with the release of our album inspired by Thomas Hardy's poetry, we will undertake a walking tour of performances from Bristol to Dorchester.

The tour will follow Gustav Holst's footsteps when he walked from Bristol to Dorchester to visit Hardy in 1927. They had lunch and Hardy showed Holst the landscape and soundscape of Egdon to help him write his homage to Hardy – ‘Egdon Heath’. Our route will begin in Wells and finish in Dorchester, with a concert each evening. There will also be album launch concerts in Bristol and London.

In the 150th anniversary year of Holst’s birth we aim to honour the composer, who had such a love of the landscape and people of the South-West, with this environmentally-friendly tour which allows us to imagine walking with Holst, whilst investigating sites that influenced the art of both Holst and Hardy.

On each leg of the tour we will be joined by guests from local communities, national groups with a local interest as well as Hardy and Holst enthusiasts.

We will invite all those who took part in the educational workshops and outreach work we have planned in advance of the tour. We will carry flags and banners created by those in the workshops responding to the music and poetry and Wessex landscape, creating a fun and vibrant pilgrimage route toward Hardy's home. These flags and banners will then adorn the venues that we eventually reach for our evening concerts.

Wells - Wed 24th July 2024
Castle Cary - Thurs 25th July 2024
Sherborne - Fri 26th July 2024
Cattistock - Sat 27th July 2024
Dorchester - Sun 28th July 2024

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